Lita in Hell's Kitchen
by LouEthelip
Summary: Lita, now 22 is a well known chef and has been offered a chance to compete on "Hell's Kitchen". How will she fare in the competition? How will she fare with the hot tempered Chef Ramsey? Please review after reading.
1. Chapter 1

Lita in Hell's Kitchen

By

LouEthelip

Lita stood before a glass and wood door in nervous anticipation. She looked down at the doorknob knowing that if it turned her life would be changed forever. So much had happened that had led her to this moment. Her nerves were raging in anticipation.

In her life Lita had known nerves before. Fighting the negaverse, the black moon clan, the death busters, the dead moon circus and even shadow galactica. While this outcome would not be life and death it was still important to her.

Her head turned to the left where another figure stood before another door. His name was Boris. To some he became known as 'Boris Badenov' for his irritability to the point of ranting and raving like a lunatic. She looked at his bald head seeing the sweat drops falling down his face. He was as nervous and scared as she was.

Behind them was a final figure. His name was Chef Gorden Ramsey. For the last month he had been supervising a competition called 'Hell's Kitchen' to try and find his new executive chef for a new international restaurant.

What a strange and wild adventure the now 22 year old women. After her final battles and finishing high school she finally started looking into what to do with the rest of her life. She decided to attend a culinary school where her cooking abilities were quickly discovered. Upon graduation she found employment in a high end restaurant where she rose through the ranks first becoming a line cook. However in a little more than a year her talents allowed her to be named sous chef of the kitchen, and nine months later the executive chef. Her quick development caught the eye of Gordon Ramsey who was starting to cast hopefuls for a new version of his television show "Hell's Kitchen". When she got the invitation she couldn't believe her eyes. After saying goodbye to her friends and coworkers Lita flew to America to begin her adventure.

Upon arriving at Los Angeles International Airport she was caught quite unaware with the press that were there to meet her plane. No sooner had she stepped off the plane when flashes from camera's almost blinded her and people were shouting questions at her from every direction. She became alarmed when somebody grabbed her by the arm but before she could react the individual claimed he was part of the staff for the show and he would take her where she needed to go.

Already trying to deal with the culture shock of this new country she meekly allowed her to be led to an area of the terminal where a large press conference was to take place. Everybody had been waiting on her arrival so all the participants would be announced at the same time. Approaching the podium was master chef Gordon Ramsay who waited for the journalists to hush before he would begin. Lita looked around to see her competitors. It was a potpourri from around the world. 18 chefs from 18 different countries being represented. From North America there was U.S.A, and Canada. South America sent Brazil and Chile. Europe added Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia and India. In the Mid-East Saudi Arabia had a representative. Africa had Zimbabwe, and the long shot Djibouti. Asia was well represented with China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and of course Lita representing Japan. Finally Australia and New Zealand rounding out the field. Each had sent their best chef hoping to win the competition. Their hopefully future boss then started speaking.

"First of all thank you all for coming today. As you know we are always to improve our show Hell's Kitchen. While it has proven popular in both the United States and Great Britain I know from experience that there are great chefs throughout the world. I have brought renown chefs from around the world to come here and compete to become the executive chef of my next restaurant. The only difference is that whoever wins, that restaurant will be built in their country.

That news excited Lita who was thankful that with the intense training with Mina who could speak English fluently it helped her understand what was going on. However some of the participants had brought translators with them. Though they each had an ability to function with the English language some were not as strong, hence the addition of the translators to begin with until they were more fluent in the language.

From their all the contestants were driven to their dorm which was next to the kitchen where each of them would be working. Lita tried to adjust to the new environment. She tried to be pleasant to the other contestants before the competition started but was met with what could generously be called a cool attitude. One of the other girls made it plain to Lita that she was here to win, not to make new friends.


	2. Chapter 2

That first week of the competition was the roughest for Lita. It started with her poor performance in the taste test. A typical exercise to determine a chef's palate. Lita went zero for two failing to correctly guess american cheese which she though was gouda and salmon which she thought was tuna. Though other members of the girls team did as bad throughout the prepping for the dinner there was no secret that they were mostly blaming their loss and punishment on her shoulders.

That night's dinner was a total debacle. On the appetizer station she couldn't seem to prepare the food to Chef Ramsey's traditional high standards. It didn't help that after each failure she was receiving condemnation and more than a few curse words until he had seen enough and ejected her from the kitchen. As she went upstairs Lita was in tears convinced she would be put up for elimination and then kicked out. Half of her prediction was accurate. Her position was on the line for ejection. However after her elimination one by one her teammates were having equal difficulties until they were all told to 'piss off'. At the elimination ceremony Chef Ramsey asked Lita point blank if tonight was the best she could do.

"Chef Ramsey if that was the best I could do then I didn't deserve to be here in the first place. I didn't cook to your standards I understand that but I can do better. I know I can. The bigger question do you believe I can. If so then keep me here. If you've lost faith in me send me home."

The other nominee pleaded with him that she was a better chef than she showed too but that she was much better than Lita was. In the end it failed to impress him and the representative from Djibouti was sent home.

That evening Lita received the second shock of the week. She was lying in bed trying to sleep but she could hear a conversation that was taking place nearby and she was the topic of interest.

"I can't believe he kept that Japanese sea cow around."

"Why did she get invited in the first place. She cost us on the challenge and at dinner. How the hell did she even make it to the top to begin with?"

"Isn't it obvious? She must have slept her way to the top. Heaven knows it couldn't be because she has the talent for cooking."

Those words pained Lita's heart and made her very angry at her competitors. What would make her angrier was to her face these people tried to appear to be her friend. At the next challenge the contestants were asked to cook one of their signature recipes. Lita prepared a stuffed fish meal which had always drawn praise from her clients in Japan and drew equal praise and a point for her team. However her teammates didn't fare as well and again the women were stuck with prepping while the men enjoyed the rewards for their efforts. It was all she could do to play nice with the others while secret hoping for their demise. The tensions began to make it more difficult to get a good nights sleep. It got to the point that one evening she decided to get out of bed and take a little stroll around the kitchen. She stood before the station she was going to be in charge of for the next service. Trying to imagine herself doing everything perfectly. Though she had no ingredients in front of her imagination saw all that was needed to perform the perfect cooking and plating technique guaranteed to please Chef Ramsey. After about 20 minutes of this fantasy cooking she went back upstairs calmer and ready for some sleep. Crossing the main area to the bedroom she was surprised to see one of her fellow competitors. It was the big Russian Boris. He was sitting on one of the chairs with a bottle of vodka in one hand and a glass in the other. He seemed as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

"Sorry, I did not mean to wake you up Lita one."

At first it annoyed her when he called her 'Lita one' until she understood from his translator what he was trying to say way 'little one' then it became amusing to her. Even when his English improved and would call the other's 'little one' he still enjoyed playing around with Lita and the term 'Lita one" became a term of private friendship between them.

"Tough contest so far huh." Lita said to break the ice.

"Da. Boris like tough though. Makes me tougher."

Then the rubbed the side of his head up and down before asking.

"Too hard for you?"

Boris drank some more vodka then added.

"Hate fish station. Soups Boris good. Make borscht best. Meats can improve. Scared of dessert and garnish. Not much time there in Russia."

Now maybe it was the vodka doing the talking but Lita was amazed that the man who was her competition was telling her his strengths and weakness in cooking.

"Boris must not lose. Losing not good."

In that moment the pair produced an unofficial alliance. They made a pact that they would teach the other what they knew about the stations they were not doing well at. Later on that alliance became vital in the sharing of information. It appeared that both parties were even less popular than they thought. Boris told Lita how behind her back she was being referred to as "Lita-in-heat-a" because of her love of romance novels. Lita returned the courtesy when she first told him that the men called him "Boris Badenov" an evil character from a cartoon show and how it eventually evolved in his being called "Boris Bad-enough". That was when they determined to make it to the end of the competition if possible by working together.

As the competition continued there were surprises along the way. The American Chef didn't even make it into the top 10 which was considered both as a surprise and an upset. It didn't break Lita's heart to see the U.S.A. representative leave who had developed into her biggest pain in the butt. Each week they continued to help each other in secret. After each dinner service they analyzed what they did right and what was done wrong to the best of their knowledge. It wasn't too long after the U.S.A. elimination before the others began to suspect their alliance. Then came the night when Lita was having an awful night cooking the risotto. Finally from the men's side Boris shouted.

"Remember your steps Lita. You're forgetting #3."

The moment he yelled that it flashed in Lita's head what she had been forgetting to do which caused her plates to come out cold and/or raw. After the dinner service Gordon Ramsey questioned Boris about why he helped Lita who was obviously at this point of the competition his biggest rival. Bruno explained it simply and honestly showing off his improvement in English.

"Lita is a good chef. Boris is a good chef. Boris has cooked 30 years as a chef. Lita not so much. I do not mind assisting her since she has assisted me as well. We must still prove ourselves to you though."

There were moment of personal grief for each participant as well. Of course the most difficult was the constant abuse heaped on each participant by Chef Gordon Ramsey. While every competitor knew of his tempter it was quite another to be on the receiving end of his verbal fireballs. More than once he managed to reduce Lita to tears when he kicked her or her entire team out of the kitchen. While Boris never visually showed emotion at being thrown our later on when the two would meet privately he admitted the blows to his ego.

There were other challenges as well for both. Being in a foreign land always involve a bit of difficulty. Lita missed her friends. Though nobody in the competition was allowed to phone their friends they were allowed to receive mail. When a letter came from any of Lita's friends it was quite common for her to sit down and read them over and over. In one such correspondence Serena added a newspaper clip that talked about Lita's efforts. The early parts of the letter depressed her because it reminded her of how far away they were, but the end of the letter was always full of praise and the best of wishes for Lita. That she had their support and prayers. Boris always seemed to know when she was down and offered whatever support he would be able to give. Even if it was nothing more than being an ear to bend or a shoulder to lean on either physically or metaphoric.

For Boris he yearned for his family as well. Sometimes he'd share with Lita the love he had for his wife. It was also learned that he had a daughter Ninatchka who he sometimes just called Nina who was only a little bit younger than she was. Near the end of the competition when Boris won a individual cooking challenge he was allowed a chance to talk with his family via video hookup. While the entire conversation was done in Russian and also not being known to show his emotions openly the call obviously affected him. That night having woken up in the middle of the night she began to walk into the main area of the dorm. There she saw Boris sitting down with his vodka. By this point it wasn't anything unusual for him. Most of the time he just drank maybe a glass or two. This night she saw a different Boris. First it was the fact that his eyes were bloodshot red, then she could see the tear streaks coming from his eyes. Worse though was his vodka bottle. It was close to empty when she knew that it had been almost full just two days earlier. He was quite drunk. Worse was the fact there was no glass nearby which was his normal habit. It appeared that he was drinking straight from the bottle. In his other hand he held a photograph. It was of his wife and daughter.

"Are you all right Boris?" ,Lita had to inquire.

Boris shook his head negatively.

"I guess seeing my family hit me harder than I thought it would. Of course I miss my wife. Holding her. The smell of her hair. Other…things of course. What really got me I guess was seeing my Ninatchka. When she said she had been accepted and soon would be leaving the house to attend St. Petersburg College. When I lived at home as soon as either myself or she got home she couldn't wait to come to me and hug me. She was always so giving with her love and affection. I just wish I could give you her one final hug before she left.

For a long time Lita had known how much his family meant to Boris which made this explanation perfectly understandable. There didn't seem to be much she could do to help the situation but unexpectedly an idea flashed into her mind.

"Boris…I know I'm not your wife, I know I'm not your Ninatchka. If it would help you though could I be an acceptable substitute?

Sitting down on Boris's lap Lita embraced him like she hoped a daughter would embrace her father. Of course having had both of her parents killed in a plane crash at such a young age gave her little experience in how to proceed. Wrapping her arms around his neck she gave him a peck kiss on the cheek she felt his arms wrapping strongly around her. She could feel his shoulders shuddering as if he was tearing again. Then he began to speak in Russian. While not able to understand what he was saying occasionally she could hear the name of his daughter. After a few minutes his speech began to slur, then soon thereafter he fell asleep on the chair.

Before he could spill his remaining vodka she took it out of his hands and put it in the fridge. Then she found a blanket and covered him up. Seeing him in this state made Lita miserable wishing she could do more to help her partner of the kitchen. Not sure why she was doing it she gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. In slurred Russian she thought she had heard the wife's name.

When the chef from France was eliminated the pair had realized the goal of their little alliance. They had made it to the final two. They threw their arms around each other and celebrated together.

The pair would have one more dinner service to go through. Each would be required to set up a menu of their choice to be followed. While they planned to serve many of Chef Ramsey's most famous dishes each planned something special from their native land. For Boris it was the borscht he had always bragged about being put in the appetizer section. For Lita it was a stuffed fish dinner. The man they were doing all this for was not in the kitchen for the finals. He would make his observations from a distance and also rely on the customer feedback cards. When the final dinner service was over Chef Ramsey praised both of their works. He read some of the feedback cards to each chef which were glowing in their reviews.

After being allowed a chance to get cleaned up and changed the pair were brought before a pair of doors. Putting Lita in front of one door and Boris in front of the other Chef Ramsey spoke.

"In a few minutes I will tell you to turn the handle and open the door. However the door will only open for one of you. That will be the winner of Hell's Kitchen. Before you do though I want to say one thing. I've been in charge of many of these competitions but I can say with total honest this was the toughest, most gut wrenching decision of my life. You are both worthy of this victory in my eye's. To the one of you whose door doesn't open I don't want you to think of yourself as a loser. If anybody ever tries to claim that you are you can tell them for me that they could piss off. Now, each of you put your hands on the doorknob and turn it on the count of three. 1.….2.….3!


	3. Chapter 3

At the count of three both Lita and Boris began to turn the knob. When she found the knob continuing to turn she felt elation. That she had won the competition. That she was going to win the restaurant in Japan. She pushed the door ready for it to swing open and to accept the cheers of the throng she could hear from the other side…

Only the door did not open.

She pushed against it with even greater force but it didn't budge. When she heard the roar of the crowd she turned her head to see that Boris's door did open and he had stepped through the winner of Hell's Kitchen. She felt herself become weak as she rested her head against the unyielding door. Her heart felt broken. After all the efforts, after all the things that had taken place she had come up short.

From behind Chef Ramsey could feel Lita's sorrow.

"I am sorry Lita, you are a fantastic chef. Anybody who say's differently can piss off for they have no clue what they're talking about. It could have easily been you on the outside right now."

She appreciated Chef Ramsey's words but it didn't take away the sting of her defeat. To her surprise Boris came back through his door and grabbed Lita by her forearm and brought her forward to the cheers of the crowd.

He raised her hand as if she has been the victor instead of him. The crowd roared its approval. Then she noticed her friends the Sailor Scouts were among the masses. All were applauding, whistling and cheering her. The winner was given a microphone and he began to speak.

"Boris is happy of course to win however I also know that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my 'Lita One'. From the beginning I could see how good she was. She pushed me to be a better chef. Hopefully I do the same for her."

Nodding her head Lita admitted Boris's observation. Before he could say more his wife ran up the stage to embrace him. Lita used the distraction to try and fade back through the door and into the background.

Still in tears Lita made her way back to the dorm to pack. Part of her wanted to see her friends again but she wanted to wait until she could screw on a smile to hide her sorrow. She didn't want to be a wet blanket at the proceedings. About to close the case a visitor entered the room. She knew the image well. She had seen it many times from a picture Boris had of her and the video phone call. It was his wife.

"Am I bothering you…'Lita one'? If so I'll leave."

Wiping the tears from her eyes Lita invited the women in. Sitting on the edge of the bed Boris's wife looked upon the young women.

"From the moment the flight from Russia left I've been trying to consolidate the images I've seen of you from the show so far with the letters I've gotten from my husband. On television they have you coming across as cold and unfeeling, a manipulator. However my husband wrote of you in the most glowing of terms. It is tough to gain the respect of my husband. He can be as cold and hard as a Siberian winter sometimes but you did it."

Lita was amazed at the speaking ability of the women who was speaking English so well. It turned out she was born an American and had left to learn to cook. That is where she met Boris and fell in love. Getting married twenty-eight years ago she moved to Russia.

"I know you are still upset so I can only assume that you gave it your best efforts to win.", Boris's wife concluded.

"Of course I gave it my best to win. I wanted this as much as Boris did. Do you think I could be this upset if I hadn't."

"Thank you then. If you had let Boris win then his victory would have been hollow. You respected him enough to make him earn this. For that I personally thank you. You truly are a good friend to my husband."

The explanation from Boris's wife made the defeat a little easier to handle though it still hurt. Before she could say more Lita's friends the Sailor Scouts had arrived in their everyday persona's. Each were smiling and applauding their colleague, teasing her with her nickname "Lita one". Still they knew their partner all too well. That she was taking the loss hard so while they all praised her they didn't do so in such gushing and glowing terms that it would only serve to remind her that she still didn't win. It didn't eliminate the mood she was in but it was definatly helping. Before long she was becoming the charming women they had known for so long. Full of spirit, full of life.

With the reunion with her friends in full swing one final participant entered her room. It was the man who had shared this adventure with her and in the end proved to be her superior.

"Lita one. Thought you'd be here. Ah, these must be your friends you've told me so much about."

Shaking each one's hand he spoke in great detail of the praise Lita had heaped on them. He then introduced his wife to the group. Then the winner had a surprise for Lita.

"It'll be about a year before Chef Ramsey will have the new restaurant in Russia built but when it opens I'm going to need a good sous chef, somebody I can trust to run the restaurant when I'm not there. I can't think of a better person for the job than you my 'Lita one'. "

This was a stunning offer to Lita. After all with the competition over Boris didn't have to be nice to her anymore if he had ever felt any animosity. He was genuinely pleased with her cooking. However her heart already knew the answer to the question.

"Boris, that is very sweet of you and I am honored but I have to decline…"

Her friends looked on gasping in surprise. However Boris smiled gently letting her continue.

"….I'm afraid that my time here in Hell's Kitchen has made me realize I don't want to take orders from any boss. Even one as sweet as you have been. I want to be in charge of my own kitchen, my own restaurant. A place that is as unique as I think I am. Though when I do open the place I think I already know what I'll call it."

She paused for dramatic effect. She gave a wide smile as she announced the name.

"Lita One"

For the first time she actually saw Boris blush. Yes he was slightly embarrassed that his pet name for Lita would be found as the name of her new place. Yet behind the blush she could also see a beacon of pride coming from his eyes.

"I understand 'Lita one'. Just know this I won't be doing any staff hiring until about a month before its launch so if you change your mind you know how to contact me. I'll keep a chef hat ready for you if you change your mind but if I've learned anything from you 'Lita one' you are not given to doing that."

"Thanks Boris."

Soon everybody left Hell's Kitchen and headed to the airport to go home. The stinging pain of her defeat lessened with every passing minute. Maybe someday it would go away completely but she had to admit that the time spent in Hell's Kitchen was worth it. She improved as a chef and best of all she made a great new friend.

Not too bad.

THE END


End file.
